Alleged non-compliance uncovered by LHA at Yarra Valley farms, as part of ongoing focus in horticulture

5 June 2025
Alleged non-compliance uncovered by LHA at Yarra Valley farms, as part of ongoing focus in horticulture

Several labour hire providers are under investigation for alleged non-compliance following unannounced visits to Yarra Valley farms by officers from the Labour Hire Authority (LHA).

During the operation in April, LHA officers interviewed workers and key staff from hosts and providers, and collected financial documents to enable investigation of potential unlawful conduct.

Officers identified evidence of potential non-compliance by labour hire providers, including that workers may have been:

  • underpaid, and had entitlements including superannuation withheld
  • housed in accommodation that licensed providers had failed to declare to LHA.

Under the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (Vic), providers must comply with all relevant laws and may have their licence cancelled for non-compliance.

The visits followed inspections of Yarra Valley farms in March by members of the national Phoenix Taskforce, including officers from LHA, the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and Australian Border Force (ABF).

The recent site visits are the latest in ongoing inter-agency collaboration to tackle non-compliance in the horticulture industry, including alleged illegal phoenix activity identified during site visits in Koo Wee Rup in 2024, and visits to farms in:

Investigations are ongoing into alleged non-compliance uncovered during the visits and LHA will continue to work alongside the other agencies on any outcomes.

Working collaboratively across state lines

Joint activities with other regulators, such as the March inspections in the Yarra Valley, ensure non-compliance can be investigated and enforced across workplace laws and obligations that fall under each regulator’s jurisdiction.

Horticulture providers commonly operate in multiple states and territories. There is also solid evidence to show that the origins of harms often occur outside of the region, orchestrated across regional or jurisdictional boundaries.

Collaboration between agencies and the involvement of federal agencies is therefore fundamental to removing exploitative providers from the industry and protecting workers.

LHA works closely with a range of primary regulators to detect, disrupt and deter non-compliance, and is continuing to explore opportunities for further collaboration, including:

  • sharing data and intelligence
  • when assessing licence applications
  • during compliance investigations
  • through joint field activities.

Focus on horticulture

The Victorian Inquiry into the Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Work outlined the significant worker exploitation prevalent in the labour hire industry in 2016, prominently within horticulture.

The report highlighted the extensive work required to reform the industry, and LHA was established as Victoria’s independent labour hire regulator.

The horticulture industry has a higher risk of worker exploitation due to the seasonal and transitory nature of the work, and high proportions of migrant workers from a range of backgrounds, including PALM scheme workers. The industry also poses a regulatory challenge, as bad actors move across the state with the harvest season, and orchestrate harms across regional or jurisdictional boundaries.

As of 20 May 2025, there were 498 licensed providers supplying workers in the horticulture industry in Victoria, while 1,251 total providers have been licensed at some point since the beginning of the scheme.

LHA’s focus on horticulture has led to significant compliance and enforcement outcomes, improving fairness for businesses and workers.

Since 2019, LHA has:

  • refused 170 licence applications
  • cancelled 220 licences
  • imposed conditions on 80 licences.

LHA compliance activities have included site visits to over 100 horticulture businesses, interviewing workers and inspecting accommodation to identify any non-compliance by providers or hosts. This includes targeting areas of Victoria that have higher levels of non-compliance, such as the Yarra Valley.

All horticulture visits, since November 2021 Workers Interview – 148 Hosts Visited – 157 Providers identified – 28 Accommodation Visited – 14 Horticulture visits in Yarra Valley, since 2021 Been to Yarra Valley on 13 separate occasions Workers Interview – 54 Hosts Visited – 48 Providers identified – 16 Accommodation Visited – 2

LHA investigations have also led to several high-profile prosecutions of horticulture businesses and individuals, with over $2 million in combined penalties imposed by the Supreme Court of Victoria across six separate cases:

LHA also has several other prosecutions in the horticulture industry before the courts:

LHA communications campaign for horticulture hosts

A communications campaign targeting hosts in the horticulture industry was launched in May across digital, social media and press channels and will run until June.

Advertisements encourage hosts in the targeted industries to use the tools on the LHA website to check the labour hire licences of providers they have engaged or are seeking to engage.

Messaging highlights the need for host businesses to only source labour hire workers through licensed providers, or face substantial fines and significant disruption to their business.

Information for hosts – along with English and translated versions of posters, handouts and digital assets are available for download on the Horticulture hosts page.